Wait in Gentleness and Receive Joy

            Have you had your Joy Juice today?   We’ve tasted lots of fruit these past few days, but here’s another delicious one we need to try…GENTLENESS.

Jesus is the perfect example! In Matthew 11:29, He said, "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."

            Gentleness….some versions use the word “meekness”...not to be confused with  WEAKNESS!  Gentleness describes a calm disposition, particularly under fire--which actually requires a great deal of strength.

One of the most familiar nursery rhymes is about Humpty Dumpty.  You remember:  "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the King’s horses and all the King’s men, couldn’t put Humpty together again." Charles Swindoll says that little nursery ryhme was originally written about people; broken people; who fell off the wall and found themselves smashed. Ever felt that way? All the King’s horses and all the King’s men can not put us back together again. But God can, and through our Christian gentleness He will.

          Andrew Murray, the great South African 19th Century preacher, put it like this: “The Spirit teaches me to yield my will entirely to the Will of the Father. He opens my ear to wait in great gentleness and teachableness of soul for what the Father has day by day to speak and teach. He discovers to me how union with God’s will is union with God himself; how entire surrender to God’s will is the Father’s claim, the son’s example and the true blessedness of soul.” 

  Joyfully accept your opportunities to bear the beautiful fruit of gentleness!